Deranged Serial Killer
by WinButler
Summary: There is a crazed serial killer stalking the streets of Domino, preying on people Yugi knows. Will they be able to solve the crimes before people closer to home are killed? shounen ai kinda, BakuraxKaiba.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh 

Warnings: Moderately gruesome murders, but nothing that bad. Bakura x Kaiba, but no lemons (sorry). If you don't like any romance, sorry but there is quite a lot. As well as the horror. Oh, and there will be character death, but hopefully no one that anyone really likes that much.

A/N: I didn't know some people's last names or first names so I just made stuff up.

Chapter one

It was an ordinary day in Domino City. A Thursday. Tea Gardner had just finished school, and was on her way meet her friends at the park. She wanted to know what the big news was that they had told her about over the phone. She saw Tristan, Joey, and Yugi sitting on a park bench.

"Hey! You guys!" she called out.

"Oh, hi, Tea!" they replied. "Come sit."

"So, what is this big news you have for me? Is it good news?"

Yugi looked shifty. "I suppose for one person it's pretty bad news."

"Oh. Well, what is it?"

"It's not really the news we need to tell you, it's that you have to keep it to yourself. See, if you found out on your own, you can't be telling….people."

"What is it?"

"Bakura is moving into the mansion."

"Oh…dear. So I suppose I'm not allowed to tell Ryou."

"That's right. He'll be losing his Yami, after all. His best friend. And Bakura wants us to keep it to ourselves until he's ready to tell Ryou."

"Well. I guess it is good news. For Bakura and Kaiba, anyway."

"Yeah, but, you know."

"I do know." She nodded. "So, do you guys wanna come to my place? We can watch some TV, whatever."

"Sure." They followed Tea out of the park towards her house.

"When they arrived, they went into the living room while Tea fetched some food from the kitchen.

"So what do you guys wanna do?"

They grunted. "I dunno." They all muttered.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Boys."

"Hey, you guys, check this out." Said Tristan. "One of Kaiba's test subjects escaped."

"Test subjects? What does that mean?"

"Don't know. Apparently it's someone who was declared clinically braindead, but they were keeping him alive anyway. But it looks like he regained consciousness, and somehow escaped Kaiba's lab."

"Does it say anything about who it is?"

"No. Kaiba's guys aren't releasing any details."

"And I'm guessing he won't tell us anything."

"No, but he'll probably tell Bakura. And we can just get Ryou to ask Bakura."

"Good point."

"Anyway, what else is there in that paper?"

"Nothing good. Turn the TV on, Yugi." Yugi did so, and it came up on the news channel.

"And in other news, a Domino City visitor was found dead in his hotel room last night, after having been murdered. Police are not releasing details as of yet but we can tell you that the victim was a white male in his early twenties, with, ah, pink hair. No other details of the crime have been released."

They looked at each other. "Who d'you reckon that is?"

"Probably no one we know."

"Yeah, no point in worrying."

They sat down, flicked on a good channel, and spent the rest of the day not worrying, until the phone rang.

"Hello?" said Tea.

"Tea, get here right now. And bring the rest of the geek squad. Including Bakura's little friend."

Tea frowned. "You mean Ryou."

"Yeah. Him."

"OK, we'll come, but you have to tell us what this is about when we get there."

"I'll tell you right now, princess, it's about the person who was murdered last night." The person on the other end of the line hung up, and Tea looked at her friends.

"Guys, we need to go to the mansion. That was Kaiba. He says it's about this person who's been killed."

"Oh no. I hope it's not someone we know." Said Yugi anxiously.

"It's probably fine, you guys." Said Tea reassuringly. "Oh, Tristan, call Ryou and tell him to meet us there."

"All right. Bakura too?"

"I think Bakura is already there."

They set off for Kaiba's mansion, and arrived there ten minutes later, to find an anxious Ryou standing outside the door, waiting for them.

"You guys, do you know what's going on? What was so urgent?"

"We don't know, Ryou. Come on, let's go in."

They met Kaiba in the first living room, where he and Bakura were sitting waiting for them.

"Glad you could come," began Kaiba, "because I don't think this news is something you're gonna like."

"Kaiba, be serious. Is this to do with that person who was killed?"

He frowned. "They were more than killed. The murderer used a serrated knife to cut open all their arteries, but before they could bleed to death, he cut out their eyes and nose. And used a blowtorch to cauterize the wounds."

Tea was very squeamish. "Eeewww! That's horrible! Why did you have to go and say that, Kaiba?"

Bakura was lying on the couch with a satisfied expression on his face. He laughed at Tea for being such a girl.

"That's not all. He carved the word "revenge" into the victim's back before finishing him off."

"Why would he do that?"

Kaiba frowned. "Maybe he's on some kind of crazed revenge mission."

"So that means he'll kill again. So what does this have to do with us, rich boy?" asked Joey.

"Possibly nothing. But that doesn't change the fact that the victim was someone who was working for some guy for most of his life, and the only two encounters he's had that might have someone wanting revenge are when he was about twelve years old, and when he met you."

"Us?"

"Well, me, really. But it was you, Yugi, who destroyed his life by defeating his boss. I was captured by the Seal of Oricalcos at the time."

"Wait. Are you talking about Alister?"

"Absolutely."

"But why would anyone want to kill him?"

"Precisely. The only people who can have any motive whatsoever are, well….us."

END OF CHAPTER ONE

Win: you can flame me for killing Alister, I don't even mind. I don't like him. Next chapter, another murder. Who shall I kill this time? Mwah ha ha!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Do not own Yu Gi Oh 

A/N: This chapter will be from the point of view of the murderer.

Chapter two

It was easy. Well, this one was. The next one, perhaps, not so much. I am perfectly aware that Yugi and his friends already know what I am trying to do. And the more they figure out, the more difficult it will be to continue with this work.

They probably think I'm crazy. Well, they're wrong. I'm as sane as the next person. I just happen to be a violent murderer. Well, after what I've been through, one could hardly blame me, could they? I knew I'd get out. And now it's time for my final revenge.

I know he thinks I'm trying to frame him. Which is true. Ah well, it'll be even more painful for him when I move on to the people he cares the most about, rather than his pathetic enemies. Alister didn't even put up a fight. Partly because I had him drugged.

This one was too easy. I gained entrance to his mansion by pretending to be delivering something to him directly. In fact, the only difficult part was getting the flight over there. I have been working for the past two weeks as a courier. The job does not require any special skills, and I proved I was intelligent enough to handle it.

So when the opportunity for the flight to Germany came, I jumped at the chance. I entered his bedroom, where he was lounging next to his computer, idly putting in figures. This is when I struck. I had brought a bat, with which to knock him out. I then proceeded to drag his body over to his balcony, where I handcuffed him to the railings.

It took a matter of less than an hour for him to regain consciousness. That is when I took out the package I was supposedly delivering. It contained a sledgehammer. The frightened look in his eyes was priceless, as was his pitiful scream when I broke the bones in his legs and arms with the hammer. Oh, I was enjoying it. I wasn't meant to be, this was simply what I needed to do to torture the mind of my dear friend, my final victim. But torturing this one was also fun. I suppose I have the sadistic mentality of a serial killer after all.

When most of the bones in his body were shattered, and he thought he couldn't take the pain anymore, I decided, leave the more horrible ones until later. Let this one die peacefully. So I took the sledgehammer and delivered a final blow to his skull, smashing it, and leaving his body limp and shattered on the ground.

Now this was just for fun. I uncuffed him, and, with all the strength I had, which was not much, I lifted his body over the railings of his balcony, reattached him, and left him to dangle over his balcony.

Now they say there are three main ways to dispose of a dead body. One, trash it. This would not do. Two, Dismember it. Like I have the time for that! I have to be back on a flight to Japan in an hour. Three, display it. Now. This suits my exhibitionist personality down to the ground. So I resolved from now on to display all the bodies I killed, like the fine works of art they were.

So. That was how I killed Zigfried Von Schroeder. The news of his death will be all over the news by tomorrow, and I'm sure Yugi and his little clan of friends will certainly make something out of this.

I truly can't wait until I kill his most treasured possession. I will force him to watch as the person he cares about most is tortured and mutilated in front of his eyes. Oh, the anticipation.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

A/N: Please review, nice readers. This chapter was slightly psychopathic, but hey. Who shall I kill off next?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own yu gi oh 

A/n: Sorry its been a while. I got distracted by….other fanfictions.

Chapter 3

Tea flicked through the newspaper (trying to look smart in front of Yugi, of course), and seemed to be rather enjoying herself.

"Ooh! There's a sale at - "

"Tea, please." Interrupted Tristan. "Can we just focus on the crisis at hand?"

She rolled her eyes. "You guys, there's no crisis. Seriously."

"Are you kidding? It can't be coincidence that both Alister and Zigfried have been murdered within a week of each other."

Yugi was sitting in the corner of Kaiba's living room, looking frightened. "I don't know, you guys. Maybe it is nothing to do with us."

Kaiba looked scornful. "You wish, Yugi. Either someone's trying to get you put in the slammer or they've got a seriously whacked out idea of helping you out."

Yugi looked even more scared at this. "I'm just worried it's the first one." He bowed his head. "If anyone else we know gets killed, they might as well just come and arrest me right away."

Tea looked, for once, rather sceptical. "They will not. It's not as if the whole world knows about your connection to Alister. He was pretty much a nobody."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at her. "Look, Gardner, he may have been a nobody to you, but he was a person, and he's dead now. I know, it's not like I particularly care about either of these people, but at least he fought to try and save his brother. I know what that's like. What if I'd been the one that got killed? Huh?"

Bakura smiled. He had been lying on Kaiba's couch reading for the past few hours. "I don't think anyone would miss you all that much, priest."

Kaiba sighed exasperatedly. "I really wish you would stop calling me that."

"Hey, where's Ryou?" asked Joey. "He was supposed to be here like fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh, whoops!" said Bakura. "I meant to say, he called ten minutes ago. He's going to the movies with Malik instead."

"What? But we need his help."

"Why? He's nothing to do with this."

"But he's smart. He could have helped figure this out." Said Joey.

"Whatever." Said Bakura, and went back to reading his book, entitled "Serial Killers: A Detailed History".

They sat in Kaiba's living room for a further couple of hours, musing on the situation. Well, actually, Joey was eating a pizza, Tea was still reading the newspaper, while throwing furtive glances at Yugi, Tristan and Yugi were playing cards, and Bakura and Kaiba had left the room, having gone off to do "God only knows what", as Tristan put it.

----------------------------------------

Ryou was sitting in his lonely apartment, watching TV. He was looking glumly upon the empty space that on occasion had life in it. Was this what it was going to be like when Bakura went to live with Kaiba? No one had said anything to him, but Ryou could see the way things were going. Nothing much escaped him. He shed a silent tear for Bakura, and clutched his knees, rolling over to lie down on the couch. He could pretend not to be jealous all he liked, but there was little to no point, as everyone else (except Bakura, the oblivious moron that he was) knew, and Ryou couldn't exactly hide the way he felt from himself.

He sighed, and instead tried to focus on what he was watching. But MTV2 was not being kind to him, so he turned to the news.

"And, once again, our top story tonight, five major company executives have been found slaughtered in one of their hotels in New York City. They were, of course, well known here in Japan, before they were fired from Kaiba Corporation."

"Oh my!" exclaimed Ryou. "I know them!"

"The manner of death was, for each of them, a knife to the neck, said to have been delivered by someone right handed standing behind them at the time. The blades used are rumoured to be of Eastern origin, so anyone with any possible leads is urged to come forward."

Ryou stared in awe at the TV. He had heard that the Big Five had died in Kaiba's virtual world. Of course, he had been unconscious at the time, so he really didn't know. But apparently they had survived, and had moved to America. This was very very bad news. For Yugi, anyway.

It wasn't until eleven o clock that Bakura returned to the apartment that he shared with Ryou. Ryou was waiting for him in the living room.

"Hey, Bakura, you're not going to believe - "

"I already know." Interrupted Bakura. "Kaiba turned on the news after I left. He called me while I was on my way home."

Ryou frowned. "Kura, I thought you didn't know how to use your phone."

"Kaiba taught me. You know, for a priest, he's rather technologically competent."

"Shocking, since he's the president of a game company." Said Ryou sarcastically. "And for the last time, Kaiba is not a priest. I'm sure he's not really a believer in the Almighty. Or much else, for that matter."

Bakura gave in. "I guess. Besides, he's much better looking nowadays. Now that I mention it, so am I. Thanks for that, Ryou."

"Uh huh." Said Ryou non-committally. "So, he told you about the Big Five?"

"Yeah. Hee hee, Yugi's going to jail!"

"Bakura! That's a terrible thing to say!"

"So? With him in jail, he can't be the king of games anymore. So I can!"

Ryou sighed. "First of all, he can just perform the same spell we used, and get Yami a body of his own, and even if he didn't, there'd still be Kaiba. If you ever beat him at duel monsters, I'd die of shock."

Bakura sulked for the rest of the night.

--------------------------------------------

The next morning, Ryou awoke early, to violent shaking from a mass of white-blonde hair.

"Malik? What are you doing here? What time is it?"

"Time to solve some crime!" exclaimed Malik gleefully.

Ryou stared blankly. "What?"

"Ryou, I have decided that you and I are going to solve this murder case."

"Again, what?"

"Oh, Ryou! Come on, it'll be so much fun."

Ryou shook his head, still attempting to de-confuzzle what Malik was saying. "Malik, murder is not fun. It is creepy and horrible and we are not going to get involved."

Malik pouted. "Aw, why not? We can help out the pharaoh and his little gang of cheerleaders for once."

"If you're so desperate to go delving into these horrid murders, go ask Bakura. I'm sure he'd love to do it. Assuming he's not the murderer himself."

Malik's violet eyes widened at this suggestion. "Oooh, you know, Ryou, you could well be on to something there."

"I was just kidding, Malik. Bakura's no murderer, not really."

"No, no, I think he could well be the murderer! Ryou, I order you to stop fraternizing with him at once!"

Ryou raised his eyebrows and stared uncomprehendingly at Malik. "Too….early….for…you." he groaned, and skulked out of bed and into the bathroom. "_Wait." _He thought to himself as he was cleaning his teeth. _"How did he get in?" _

Ryou found that when he returned to his bedroom, Malik was no longer present, but there was something on the bed. Ryou gasped. Tickets to Muse? How? He jumped up and down in excitement. He would invite Bakura along – perfect bonding time! And without damn Kaiba too…but were they really for him? And if so, why had Malik given them to him?

END OF CHAPTER THREE

A/N: Man, Ryou is stupid. Oh well. Reviews please!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh 

A/N: Sorry it has been long again. Hopefully next time it won't be as long.

Warnings: Mild shonen ai and violence. Nothing too bad.

Deranged Serial Killer chapter 4

"Malik!" called Ryou. "Malik, where are you?" he ran into the kitchen, where Malik was sitting innocently eating a blueberry muffin.

He looked at Malik with a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "Malik, what is the meaning of this?" he demanded in a very un-Ryou-like tone.

Malik swallowed, gaping wide-eyed at Ryou. "I'm sorry, Ryou. I'll pay you back for it. It's just that blueberry's my favourite flavour."

Ryou exhaled. "Not that, Malik! This!" he brandished the Muse tickets at Malik.

"Oh!" said Malik, understanding. "They were on sale, and you know how fast these things sell out, so I got you an early birthday present."

Ryou's eyes narrowed. "My birthday is not for six months."

Malik sighed. "Fine, a half-birthday present. What's the difference?"

Ryou looked on him pityingly. "Because-why, Malik? I mean, it just seems like a strange thing to do. You could have told me and I could have bought a ticket for myself."

Malik rolled his eyes. "You are so silly, Ryou-kun. It wouldn't have been a surprise then, now would it?"

--------------------------------------------------

"And then….he stuck the bodies in acid to melt off all the flesh. Then when that was done, he sold the skeletons to med students!"

Tea squirmed uncomfortably. "Stop it! Your stories are horrible, Bakura!"

Bakura looked at the rest of the party as innocently as he could. "What? Personally, I think it's a great idea. Murder for profit! It's like a business. Hey, that gives me an idea."

Bakura, Tea, Yugi, Yami (in spirit), Joey, Tristan and Mokuba were gathered in Kaiba's living room. For some reason unknown to Kaiba, the geek squad had chosen to make his house their latest meeting spot. It was bad enough that they crashed his house every day after school, but Bakura now basically lived there (though he had still not told Ryou) and delighted in making Tea squeal.

"Hey! Kaiba!" called Bakura.

Kaiba exhaled purposefully, as if to show his distaste. "What?" he snapped.

"How'd you like to start a business with me?" called Bakura.

Kaiba, who was typing up a proposal for Kaibacorp in the safety of the kitchen, did not like the sound of this one bit. "If it involves selling dead bodies, then absolutely not. In fact, if it involves any amount of working with you, then no."

Bakura pouted. His boyfriend was such a tool sometimes.

Tea frowned. "Hey, where's Ryou? Bakura?"

Bakura shrugged. "Hell if I know. The little fool's been tricked into helping Malik Ishtar solve these murders, they're probably trotting round the crime scenes with their little reporter's notebooks out like a couple of Nancy Drew wannabes."

Tea paled. "Don't they know that's dangerous?! Most killers return to the scene of the crime! They could be next."

Bakura was mildly impressed. "I didn't think you knew the first thing about murder, Gardner. Not that I think any self-respecting serial killer would waste his time on Malik and Ryou."

The doorbell tolled here. Joey scrambled up, racing with Tristan to the door, in order to be the first at the pizza they had ordered. But when they opened the door, there was no expectant delivery boy waiting, but, instead, a torn sheet of paper fluttering underneath the doormat.

"What's this?" asked Tristan, confused. He and Joey read the note together, and Tristan, who was a faster reader than Joey, watched carefully the blond's expression as he finished the note. His face, which normally had an expression of joy and was carefree, now showed angst and disgust.

"That…that's horrible." He said, gulping. "We need to show this to Yugi and the pharaoh."

Tristan nodded. "You're right."

They re-entered the house to an expectant crowd of friends. "Well?" Asked Tea. "Where's the pizza? Don't tell me you ate it all already. Because that has to be some sort of record."

Joey was shaking. "No. There was no pizza. We-we found this." He handed over the note to Yugi, but it was intercepted by Bakura.

"What is it?" he barked. "Some sort of love note for the priest, I suppose. He's always getting crazed fangirls leaving things at the door."

Joey shook his head. Bakura began to read aloud.

"First his fingernails. That was entertaining. The fingers bleed more than you'd think. Not as much as the ears though. Despite the fact that they're only made of cartilage. Reminded me of that scene in that movie I watched once. I had explicit tastes, even when I was very young. Of course, I haven't had the chance to watch many movies in my time. But it did make me wish I had some mood music to listen to while I was removing his ear. Plus, it would have the advantage of drowning out his pitiful screams, which are hardly aurally pleasing.

Anyway. Enough on the ear. How about the eyes? He'd seen more than he ought for so long, I though, now's the perfect time to make up for that. Now, since the lovely tomb robber, whom I've never had the good fortune to meet (yet) had already accomplished half the work for me, I only had one eye to remove. I took a knitting needle (I knew that guy was a fruit) and began my work. Blood is so different when it's gushing from a gaping socket. Half black, it was. And stained his pretty suit. Good thing it was already red, hmm?

Now when I though he'd suffered enough (after all, I'm not in this for the pure thrill of sadism – really, I'm not), I finished by driving the needle into his chest. There really is nothing like the feeling of pushing yourself against the beating heart of a dying man. I could feel his pulse slowing, the blood coursing through his veins, as my own pulse quickened with the excitement.

So, I guess that one's over. My revenge is progressing nicely. But I'm bored of enemies. After all, who needs enemies when you've got friends? And yours will do brilliantly.

Oh, just one more thing. Hand this note in to the police and I promise, your loved ones will suffer a fate much worse than the one I have just described.

Thank you for your time. I think you really have no idea to whom I speak, but all will become clear soon.

Your anonymous friend."

Bakura had finished. He glanced around the room. Tea looked almost green. Yugi was white and shivering. Tristan and Joey were shaking their heads in disgust. Kaiba was standing at the door, with a perplexed frown on his face, as if he was trying to put something into place, but couldn't quite figure out where it went.

Tea's eyes were filled with tears. "Who-who would do something like that?" she cried, barely more than a tearful whisper.

Bakura gleamed. "I like this person. Let's hope he knocks off a few more irritating people. Hmm, maybe he'll kill that Rebecca child."

Yami glared at him. "Not the time, tomb robber. Unless we do something about this, Yugi's friends are going to die. That includes all of us here, not to mention the others. Duke, Rebecca, her grandpa, Ryou, Malik, Ishizu. Anyone we've come across and become friendly with could now be in prospective danger. He'll probably work up to Yugi's closer friends, so I don't think any of us need worry about that for now. But that's not the point. We need to start warning people."

Kaiba sighed. "Don't bother."

"What?" asked Yami dangerously.

Kaiba sat down. "If this killer's as good as he seems, there's no way your friends will escape. You can warn whomever you like. This killer is too clever for them."

The doorbell rang a second time. Joey and Tristan again ran to answer it, once again expecting to find a pizza boy. But once again they were disappointed.

"Hello." Said the man on the doorstep. "Officer John Parker. I'm here to arrest Yugi Moto on suspicion of eight counts of murder. He in?"

END OF CH 4

Review please!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter 5

Tea flung down the newspaper in dismay, tears still stinging in her eyes.

"How can they do this?!" she cried. "To an innocent sixteen year old boy! And Yugi, of all people! It's not fair."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. Catering for whiny females was not what he had had in mind when he had asked Bakura to move in with him. He sat down next to Tea.

"Look, Gardner," he said, as tactfully as he possibly could, "You and I both know Yugi's hardly got the balls to commit one murder, let alone eight. Do you really think they're going to find any evidence to convict him?"

Tea glared at him. "Well, they arrested him, didn't they?!"

Bakura strolled into the room, having just gotten off the phone with Ryou. "Yeah, but, come on. Why the hell would the pharaoh's little pet choose to kill these people? Come to think of it, its is kinda strange that he would choose these people in particular. You'd think they'd go after Malik and me, wouldn't you? And Duke, too. Oh well." He shrugged and took a seat. "I just got off the phone with Ryou, by the way. You'll never guess where they are."

Kaiba sighed. "Where?"

Bakura grinned wickedly. "NYC."

Tea gasped. "New York? They're in New York? Why?"

"Scene of the crime," explained Bakura. "I told you they're trying to figure out these murders. And I for one don't think it's a bad idea. Maybe me and the priest could get in on some of the action."

Kaiba absentmindedly muttered "not a priest", while Tea paced the floor of his living room anxiously. She stared at the newspaper headline, which read "Sixteen Year Old charged with eight counts of murder".

It went on to describe the latest murder, that of Pegasus, in almost as much graphic detail as the note had. Bakura picked it up and flicked through it.

"Hey, Kaiba." He said, puzzled.

"Yeah?"

"You never told us anything more about this escaped "test subject" of yours. What's the deal with that?"

Kaiba shrugged. "It's nothing to do with me. My moronic lab goons made some kind of screw-up, that's all I know. That tabloid probably knows more than me."

With that, Kaiba got up and went out to the kitchen. He was sure they would apprehend the killer soon. They had to, right? I mean, they weren't going to keep Yugi in custody for long, he couldn't kill a fly. He thought again about what Bakura had said. He had dismissed the subject in front of his boyfriend and the others, but he hadn't been able to get it out of his mind for a while now. He knew a good deal more than he had let on, despite the fact that his employees were easily as irritatingly secretive as he had made out. He just hoped for everyone's sake that they hadn't been wrong when they had assumed that this was in no way connected to the murders. And that he wasn't either.

----------------------------------------------

"Oh, Ryou-kun!"

"Sorry, Malik!"

"Ryou, you are a _bad _detective."

Ryou pouted. "I'm just clumsy! It isn't my fault!"

"Well, if you knock over any more vases or destroy any more evidence, they'll find out we've been up here!"

Ryou gave Malik a cynical glance. "I think it's fairly likely they'll find out anyway, Malik, since we're leaving our fingerprints all over everything."

Malik rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I don't care. This is so exciting!"

Ryou sighed. "And _so _illegal. What were you thinking dragging me here, Malik?"

"Maybe I wanted us to do something fun for a change."

"Fun? Malik, this cost us 900 000 yen and we haven't found anything worthwhile."

Malik growled. "Well, maybe you needed to get out of the city for a while! After all, all you ever do is sit around moping about how you don't have Bakura!"

Silence. Malik had gone too far. Ryou didn't say a word, he simply walked calmly out of the room.

"Ryou! Ryou, wait!"

Ryou did not wait.

"Ryou, get back here, damn it! We're not done!"

They were definitely done.

Malik sighed and went back into the room. Damn Ryou. Oblivious, stupid, stupid Ryou. To hell with him. Malik would investigate this on his own.

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"Oh, Yugi, we all miss you so much! When are you getting out of here?"

"Today."

Tea was the first and only person to visit Yugi Moto during his short spell in Domino City Prison. After a week in custody, they were forced to release him, having nothing to hold him on but suspicion. No evidence of his presence at any of the crime scenes had appeared, so there was nothing more they could do. He had been released, and upon being so, had been led back to the mansion in for a reunion between him and his friends.

"Yugi!" Tristan and Joey cried simultaneously, leaping on the small boy in excitement at his return. "We thought you were never coming back, man!"

"How are you, Yugi?" asked Rebecca, who was one of the few extra people that had communed at the mansion to be warned by Tea that they may be next.

"I'm fine, Rebecca, really, it was nothing." Said Yugi bravely.

She squealed with happiness and flung her arms around Yugi, much to Tea's displeasure.

"All right!" she barked. "I'm sure you all know why you're here. Yugi's friends and family are next, so we wanted to warn you not to go out at night, try not to go out alone, and for Ra's sake, lock your doors at night."

The congregation, which included Rebecca, her grandfather, Duke Devlin, Mai Valentine and Ishizu, all nodded.

"Do any of you want to stay here for your own safety? We have a good deal of security." She questioned.

Then someone snapped. "That's not happening!" growled Kaiba. "No way in hell am I letting any of these morons stay here. It's their own fault for befriending Yugi, in my opinion. If the killer gets them, I'll take responsibility, but they are not staying here. You geeks are lucky I'm letting you come into my house at all. I'm completely at sea as to why I even did that, but to be honest, I'm so used to you it doesn't irritate me any more. Well, not as much. But that's it! If you think I'm going to let not only the cheerleading squad but also a bunch of losers from my various tournaments stay at my home until those idiotic policemen catch that killer, then you're nuts!"

Tea cleared her throat. "Rant quite done, Seto?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Not quite. Two more things. One: This is not your house, Gardner. If you think it is I'll throw you out now. Two: Do not EVER call me Seto."

He stalked out of the living room, clearly angry.

Bakura shrugged his shoulders when they looked at him accusingly. "Don't look at me. He's been pissy all day. Done nothing but sit in his stupid laboratory barking at his goons and making phone calls about some island."

Tea frowned. "Island? What island?"

Bakura shrugged. "Search me. I don't know a thing about it. Look, I'm gonna go see if he wants me to grope him to make him feel better, I'll be back in a tick." He left.

Tea shuddered. "Pleasant. Now, I don't know what this killer's intentions are, but what I do know is that you'd better all go before Kaiba throws a hissy fit. If necessary I can call you."

They were ushered to the front door, but not before Ishizu intoned. "Tea, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly are the police doing to catch this killer?"

She sighed. "From what I've gathered, not a lot. But don't worry, Ishizu. Your brother and Ryou Bakura are on the case."

She nodded. "So that's why a plane ticket to New York was charged to my account a week ago."

Tea raised her eyebrows. "Yeah. I guess. See ya, Ishizu." She shut the door.

"Well." She said, turning to look at her remaining companions. "I think we've established that this situations sucks."

They nodded.

-----------------------------------------

Malik was slumped on his bed in his second class hotel room, thinking as hard as he could. For what reason would anyone want to hurt Yugi? He was, after all, the intended victim. It couldn't be coincidence that all the victims had something to do with him.

It just seemed so odd. Why were these specific victims chosen? Why not Bakura? Or he himself?

He thought back to all the enemies Yugi had faced over the past couple of years. Perhaps he could figure out if the victims had anything in common. Pegasus, when he had kidnapped Yugi's grandfather. Oh, and the Mokuba child too. The Big Five, who had trapped Yugi in that videogame. Or something like that…Malik was a little fuzzy on the details, but it had something to do with Kaibacorp. Then Zigfried Von Schroeder, who Yugi had taken on in that tournament. What had been his problem? Again, Malik was a little fuzzy, but he knew it had something to do with…

Malik sat up, gasping. No. That couldn't be right. Because wouldn't've…No! That wasn't possible! He had been….No. Malik had to be wrong. He just had to be. He thought faster than he ever had before. The Big Five. Zigfried. Pegasus. Alister. Alister! Him, and not Raphael or Valon! Another piece of the puzzle that fit exactly into place. It hadn't before, but it did now. It was just that now, Malik was solving the right puzzle.

Everything fit. He had to get back to Domino City. Now, before it was too late.

-----------------------------------------

"No…Please…don't."

"Shut up. There's no point in you saying anything. I've heard it all before."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because, it's fun."

"F-Fun? Torturing people is fun?"

"Mmm Hmm."

"Please." The man in the chair whimpered. "If you let me go now I'll tell you everything. I'll let you kill him."

"Pathetic." The boy snapped. "You have regard only for your own life. I suppose he rubs off on you."

"Just let me go. Please. I'm begging you."

"You can beg all you want. It won't help you. You're just wasting your breath."

"Then at least kill me quickly. You don't…need to torture me any more."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh yes? Well, since you're not really the one I want to hurt, then I suppose I may grant your wish. I will kill you now. And do you know how I am going to kill you?"

The boy brandished a drill and a vat of acid.

---------------------------------------------

Tea and the rest of the gang left Kaiba's house after a long day. They parted ways, each meandering back to their own house. They left only Kaiba and Bakura in the mansion.

Tea went up to her room, planning to watch a little TV before she got ready for bed. But she was not planning for what she found in her room.

A man, lying on her bed, drenched in blood. She screamed as loud as she could, but no one could hear her. There was no one to hear her. Her parents were out of town, and the deliverer of this "present" had, believe it or not, long since gone. All she was left with was a note.

"Dearest Tea,

I hope you will find the treat I have left for you. Haven't you always wanted to find a man waiting for you on your bed?

Yours sincerely,

Your anonymous friend."

She sobbed in between screams, not even having time to register the significance of her discovery.

But she did. And once she had, she spared no time. She high tailed it to Yugi's house as fast as she could. She slammed her fists against the door, still sobbing and screaming. "Yugi! Yugi! Please, open the door!" she cried.

"Tea!" he gasped, upon opening it. "What? What is it?"

She threw herself through the door, collapsing on Yugi's carpet. He kneeled next to her.

"Tea, please. Tell me what's happened."

She looked at him with scared, tear stained eyes. "Oh, Yugi. We were wrong. We were so wrong."

"What are you talking about? Wrong about what?"

"Not…you."

"Huh?"

"Yugi…" she sniffled. "I-I found Roland. He was at my house. Dead."

END OF CH 5

A/n: Review if you want….


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter 6

He crept out of his car, careful to avoid being seen by the hi-tech video cameras in place at the mansion. He snuck towards the gate, slithering through the bars with his lithe form and ran as silently as the shadows towards the door. Now this would not do. Ringing the bell was not what he had had in mind. He decided to crawl in through the open bathroom window instead.

Now where to begin? The boy would be in his bedroom, he knew. He had to start with him. There was no other way.

After finishing with the boy, he went downstairs. Now here was the tricky part. He had to be fairly quick. Tea would most likely have discovered the body by now, and any minute Yugi and his friends would be arriving to save the day. That wouldn't be much good.

Chloroform in hand, he stepped slowly down the marble staircase. He ran his small hands down the gold plated banisters. He placed his soft white tennis-shoed feet on the elegant carpeting of the front hall.

This house was so beautiful. How he had missed it.

His prey was in the kitchen. The other was in the lounge. He wouldn't have trouble with the first one, so long as he was careful. But once the swift thief had been alerted to his presence, that was when the difficulty presented itself. Oh well. He deserved his final revenge, so he would just have to hope it all went to plan.

---------------------------------------

Ryou disembarked from the bus that had taken him to the street on which Kaiba's massive estate was to be found. He hoped Bakura was at home. After the unpleasant scene with Marik in New York, he hoped to find someone's shoulder to cry on. Perhaps he did have an ulterior motive, but no matter. He was here now.

He knocked on the door. He waited. Perhaps no one was at home. That seemed odd. At this time of night, even Kaiba would be home from work. And Bakura spent practically all his time here even when Kaiba was not there. Ryou knocked a couple more times, then sighed. They were really out. But…there was a light on inside. He peered inside the window. He frowned. There was a cup of pineapple juice knocked over and an unfinished packet of candy on the floor. Bakura had certainly been there. Several documents appeared to be scattered about the place.

Ryou knocked for a final time, but no one came. This was too suspicious. He timidly tried the door. It was open.

---------------------------------------------------

"Yugi, hurry up!"

"I'm running…as fast as…I can, Tea!"

"Really?"

Yugi panted. "My legs, in case you hadn't noticed, are very short!"

"But…if we don't get there soon, it might be too late!"

Yugi collapsed to his knees. "It already is too late, Tea."

She sat beside him. "What do you mean?"

"They're already dead." He said tearfully. "I know it. I'm sure the killer has given us enough credit to realize that we know it's Kaiba he's after, not me. After all, why else would he kill Roland?"

"That's true." Admitted Tea.

"And since he knows we know, he's hardly going to waste time before killing his next victim, is he?"

Tea felt tears beginning to form in her clear azure eyes. "Kaiba was right. The killer is too clever for us."

"I know. How could we have been so stupid?"

"We weren't stupid, we were just a little…slow on the uptake." Said Tea, a smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

Yugi laughed nervously, spilling tears down his cheeks. Soon they were both laughing.

"We can't stay here, Tea." Protested Yugi. "What if we can still save them?"

Tea shrugged. "I suppose we can try. To the mansion?"

Yugi nodded in agreement. "To the mansion!"

-------------------------------------

Ryou stepped silently into Kaiba's front hall. The lights were all on. His heart was pounding, and he could feel his breath coming fast. He was scared. Who was here? What had happened to Kaiba and Bakura?

He went into the lounge tentatively. Nobody was there. He picked up the glass that had contained the orange juice and carefully replaced it on the table, when he heard a sound. He whipped his head around, gasping in terror. He was completely on edge. He whimpered, burying his face in his hands. He tried to calm himself by eating a piece of Bakura's unfinished candy, but it felt like coal in his mouth. He wanted to throw up.

He knew no matter no hard he tried, he couldn't search Kaiba's entire house for clues as to where they had gone. There were probably rooms Kaiba didn't even know about. Ryou only barely knew his way around the main part of the house.

He ascended the stairs cautiously, taking care to keep his ears open for any sound. His lip was shaking as he opened the door to the second floor bathroom. Nothing. He opened the door to Kaiba's bedroom. He was afraid of what he might find in here for more than one reason. He searched it carefully, but found nothing.

He proceeded Mokuba's room. If Mokuba was here, he might have heard something. You had to try these things, anyway.

He knocked. "Mokuba?" he called. "Are you there?"

No answer. Mokuba must be staying over at a friend's house. Yes. That was it. No doubt about it.

Ryou knocked again, repeating the same actions he had performed at the front door. Once again there was no answer. The house was like a ghost town.

Ryou did not know what compelled him to push open Mokuba Kaiba's door. It would later be attributed to "a feeling". That was the only way to describe it.

When he entered the room, however, nothing, not even the strongest sense of foreboding could have prepared him for what he was to see. Mokuba was lying on his bed, drenched in his own blood. His throat was slit. His clothes were completely red. Blood was still pouring from the gaping wound on his neck. His jet-black hair was matted with the sticky red substance. Ryou screamed and ran from the room. He could not even breathe. He ran as fast as he could, constantly flinging his head behind him to see if he was being followed. He was more afraid than he had ever been in his life. He ran to the front door, wanting to escape from this nightmare (for what other way was there to describe it?) when he collided hard with two people (though they were honestly just blurs to Ryou).

"Ryou?"

Ryou burst into tears, realizing who they were. "Yugi!" he cried, collapsing at Yugi's feet and sobbing into his shoes.

"Ryou, what are you doing here?"

"I'm…I'm…Oh, Yugi!"

"Ryou, calm down. Let's go sit in the lounge and you can tell me what happened."

Tea and Yugi had to practically carry Ryou into the living room. They sat him down on the couch, amid the scattered papers.

"Ryou, please tell us what happened." Pleaded Tea. "It might be important."

Ryou had at last regained his breath, but was still white and shaking, and kept whipping his head about as if to look at things that were not actually happening.

"O…OK. I came to see Bakura." He said, his face once again reddening. "Marik and I had a fight in New York and I came to talk to Bakura."

Yugi nodded. "Go on."

"And…I knocked, but there was nobody here. It just seemed odd, because there were lights on, and everything….Anyway, I looked through the window and there were things spilled and this mess everywhere. So I tried the door. And it was open."

Yugi nodded.

"So I came in and I couldn't find anyone. It seemed so weird. So I explored a bit, and eventually I found Mokuba." He said with a gulp, tears welling up again.

"Mokuba?" asked Tea sharply. "He's OK, isn't he?"

Ryou shook his head, bursting into tears now. "He's dead."

Yugi bowed his head and Tea shook hers. They knew they could not have saved Mokuba, but could not help but feel an inordinate sorrow at his demise. He had done nothing. And yet he had to suffer the same fate as all the others. He was just an innocent child.

Tea spoke first. "And you say Bakura and Kaiba are nowhere to be found?"

Ryou nodded. "I don't think they're here, you guys. I…I think they've been taken by the killer."

Yugi sighed. "Well, we have to find them. I expect he'll torture them first, and he has to kill both. Maybe if we think fast we might be able to find them."

Tea shook her head. "There's no way. We don't even know who the killer is, let alone where he might have taken them."

"Well, who had a grudge against Kaiba?" asked Ryou. "Oh, and by the way, since when is the victim Kaiba?"

"Since I found Roland's corpse in my bedroom." Commented Tea coolly. "You remember we were trying to figure out what the connection between the victims was, besides Yugi. And of course, they're all victims that Yugi had to defeat because they threatened Kaiba in some way. They were Kaiba's enemies, not Yugi's. It just happened that Yugi was involved with all of them."

Ryou blinked. "I can't believe you found a corpse in you room. How on earth did you handle it?"

She shrugged. "A damn sight better than you." She said jovially.

"So we have no idea who the killer is."

She nodded. "Basically."

Ryou frowned. "Wait…something's coming to me. What was that thing with the kid who was Kaiba's half-brother, or something?"

Yugi shook his head. "You were unconscious then, I'd forgotten. Noah's virtual body was destroyed."

Ryou frowned. "But not his real one?"

Tea and Yugi looked at each other worriedly. "I…don't know. I think his body is still at Kaibacorp headquarters. But he can never wake up."

Ryou nodded, absentmindedly picking up one of the scattered sheets.

"What is that, Ryou?"

He shrugged. "These pieces of paper might give us some clue." He scanned the sheet. And gasped in shock.

"I was right!"

Tea and Yugi looked at him, stunned. "You what?"

Ryou stared at the piece of paper in his hands, shaking slightly. "Listen to this. It's a report to Kaiba from his goons. It's about the escaped test subject. You remember?"

Tea gasped. "You mean…it's Noah?"

Ryou read. "Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have not at this moment apprehended Test Subject 655321, A.K.A Noah Kaiba."

"I…I can't believe it."

"Me neither. But we have to believe, because there it is. Now unless we figure out where he's taken them, Kaiba and Bakura are going to die tonight."

END OF CH 6


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter 7

Ryou, Tea and Yugi looked at each other anxiously. Three people sitting in silence, not having a clue what to do. None of them spoke. They felt that it would, at this point, be futile. All they could do was think. Where might Noah have taken Kaiba and Bakura to kill them?

Perhaps to his own house. Did he have a house? There was so much that was still a mystery about this case.

Perhaps an abandoned warehouse somewhere. Maybe that was where he was holing up until he was caught. And he would be caught, thought Ryou determinedly. He would see to that. He couldn't let Bakura die. Admittedly, if Kaiba was to suffer an unfortunate death, Ryou would find a way to carry on, but not Bakura. Ryou had to save him.

After a few minutes, Ryou could take no more.

"You guys!" he exclaimed. "We have to do something. Why don't we check out all their usual haunts? The arcade, the pizza place, the candy store…."

Yugi shook his head. "I think we'd be better off looking at where he's killed victims before. What about Alister?"

Tea struggled to remember. "I don't know. But Zigfried was killed at his house, and so was Pegasus."

Yugi looked white. "You mean…they're still here? In the house? That's so scary."

Ryou looked panicked, jumping up and beginning to pace anxiously. "We have to find them!" he cried.

Tea glared at him meaningfully. "Ryou, keep calm. We can't deal with hysterics on top of everything else."

Ryou shook his head at her violently. "Tea! Don't you care at all?"

"Of course I care, Ryou. But I want to try and help them by thinking things through, not just jumping to conclusions and getting us killed too."

Ryou's eyes filled with tears. "Translation: You don't care!"

Tea snapped. "Well, Ryou, I'm sure if Kaiba were to die, you wouldn't be too upset!"

Ryou sat down, shamefaced. He didn't say anything.

"Now." Said Tea, calmer. "If they're still here, it could take us a while to find them. There's over 80 rooms in this place, and we don't know where to begin. Yugi. You're going to take the ground floor. Ryou, you'll take the first. I'll go to the top floor and if nothing comes of that we'll meet downstairs and go to the basement level. Agreed?"

The boys both nodded their heads in concurrence, feeling that at this point it would probably be wisest just to do as they were told.

Ryou and Tea ascended the main stairs in an uncomfortable silence. Tea ignored Ryou and carried on up to the second storey, as Ryou began his search of the rooms on the first floor. He carefully avoided Mokuba's room, secretly very much hoping that Kaiba and Bakura weren't to be found anywhere on this level. He had had quite enough unpleasant shocks for one day.

Tea crept into each room in turn, hoping to find some clue as to the whereabouts of their missing friends. She had never got on especially well with either Kaiba or Bakura, but all the same she didn't want them to suffer the same fate as the previous victims. Unfortunately, she had the feeling that whatever Noah was planning for them was a whole lot worse.

Yugi remained in the kitchen. He observed the rag stained with what he could only assume was chloroform, or something else of a similar nature. There was a light spattering of blood on the work surface. He was so terrified he was almost paralyzed. He didn't wish to go searching, he wished to escape, to leave as soon as was possible. But he knew he had to be brave, and he was determined not to let his fear stop him from helping Kaiba. He moved into the dining room. There was nothing. In the lounge, nothing. In the downstairs bathroom, nothing. In the other seventeen rooms on the downstairs floor, he observed nothing that could possibly help them.

He returned to the lounge. Perhaps he might find some clues, or at least some proof, in the documents Ryou had discovered earlier.

They were headed with the KaibaCorp logo, and most of them seemed to be nothing but profuse apologies from Kaiba's employees, stating that they were trying their best to recover the missing subject.

Yugi wondered vaguely how exactly Noah had managed to so miraculously recover. And why he had decided to come after Kaiba at all. Yugi had really thought Noah wanted to help. That he had turned a new leaf, and that when he destroyed his father once and for all, he was genuinely one of the good guys. How wrong he had been. A grudge like that obviously didn't just go away overnight.

-------------------------------------------------

Marik disembarked from his plane, grabbed his baggage and made his way towards the exit. Domino Airport was no more than twenty minutes or half an hour from Kaiba's mansion by foot (if he ran, that is). He could not afford to wait for a taxi. He sincerely hoped that Yugi and Tea had been quicker than he had. Otherwise Kaiba would probably be dead already.

He vaguely wondered about Ryou. He had, evidently, already departed from New York when Marik had come to his revelations about the true purpose of the murderer. He hoped Ryou had made it safely back. They may have argued, but Marik would never forgive himself if something had happened to Ryou.

He ran for ten solid minutes, before succumbing to his tiredness and sitting on the nearest park bench. It would certainly be easier to make this journey if he didn't have his baggage with him. But these things couldn't be helped.

After thirty seconds of rest, he once more rose t his feet and began to move.

-------------------------------------------------

Tea had been searching for fifteen minutes, but nothing had come of her efforts. She was now in one of Kaiba's many spare rooms. Once again, there seemed to be nothing suspicious, nothing out of the way. Until she spotted a long kitchen knife sitting innocently atop a dresser, stained a rusty colour. Tea assumed immediately that it was blood, and, careful not to touch the knife, examined it closely. There were fragments of broken skin clutching the serrated ends of the implement, and the browny-red sticky substance was dripping onto the dresser. Apparently the knife had been recently used. She wondered if it was the weapon that had been used to kill Mokuba, but the thoughts made her feel sick. She sat on the bed, taking slow, deep breaths. The room, all of a sudden, was different. It had a putrid, rotting stench that she was sure had not been there before. She shook her head violently, knowing that it was all in her mind. All the same, she felt dizzy. She stood up, and staggered over to the nearest wall. She admired a wall decoration of a horse's head. Not real, of course, made of marble. She stroked it absentmindedly, before placing pressure upon the crown of its head, in order to steady herself. It was then that she heard the unmistakable sound of a door opening.

Her head snapped towards the wardrobe, which was where she was sure the sound had emanated from. She stood frozen for what seemed an age, before tentatively moving towards the wardrobe. Terrified, she opened the door of the wardrobe cautiously, to find nobody standing there ready to attack her. Instead, at the back, behind the old clothes, was a passageway that lead to descending stairs. The stairs were stone, and of a greenish-grey colour. She noticed that there were torches on either side of the dank walls, but neither was lit. The passage reminded her of a medieval tomb of some sort.

Why was it here? Had Kaiba perhaps had it installed for security purposes? Maybe it led to a panic room of some sort, in case anyone breached security and entered the house. Or, she thought with a sinking heart, perhaps the passage was put in place before Kaiba ever came to live here at all.

There was nothing Tea wanted to do less than go down the passage. She felt that if she did, she would be walking towards her certain doom. But there was nothing to be done. Gulping, her heart pounding like a drum, hands shaking violently, she entered the passage and closed the door behind her.

---------------------------------------------------

Noah sharpened the scalpel on the edge of another knife. He admired his reflection in the shiny surface.

Kaiba struggled relentlessly against his binds, which tied him to the chair. He was gagged, so he could not even scream. In fact, he could hardly breathe. A million dizzy, incoherent thoughts were running through his head. Bakura was across the room from him, in a similar situation. He, however, was not bothering to struggle. He seemed not to even care. Kaiba gave him the best angry glare he could muster, warning Bakura to start trying to escape, or else.

"Now which of you shall I begin with?" asked the green haired boy. His question was clearly directed at Kaiba, who responded only by narrowing his eyes at Noah.

He laughed. "What a silly question. As if I would kill you, Seto, dear brother, without having made you suffer. So I think…yes."

Noah made his way over to Bakura's chair and stood behind it. He drew the scalpel and slowly cut a line across Bakura's cheek, causing the thief to moan in pain, and Kaiba to wince.

"Look, thief!" said Noah happily. "Now you look just like you used to, in ancient Egypt…with that scar on your right cheek!"

Kaiba shook his head, trying to convince himself this was just a nightmare.

Bakura's blood trickled down on to his shirt collar, staining it a violent red.

"Now I can't have you looking away, Seto, I need you to witness my treatment of your precious tomb robber. It won't be any fun, otherwise, will it?" asked Noah innocently.

He took two pieces of tape, and used them to tape Kaiba's eyes open. He made muffled cries of protest, but nothing worked. Noah extracted a bottle of water with a spray nozzle and used it to keep Kaiba's eyes moist as he forced him to witness what he was doing to Bakura.

"Hmmm, what next? I have this blowtorch…" he murmured, grabbing said blowtorch and holding Bakura's fingers up to it. "This one really is fun, you should try it sometime. Oh wait, you'll be dead, sorry, I forgot…"

Bakura, had he not been gagged, would have let out an intense scream of pain. As it was, he made enough noise to let Kaiba know how much agony he was in.

Tea shuddered, close to tears. She was spying on the scene from outside the room. The staircase, it seemed, was a secret passageway which led to the basement. Noah evidently used it to transport the unconscious bodies of Kaiba and Bakura down to the room. She wondered if even Kaiba knew of its existence.

She had been there for only a couple of minutes, and had already seen enough. But there was nothing she could do. Noah appeared to have countless weapons, and she had nothing at all with which to defend herself. Rather stupid of her, really, she thought, not to have brought the blood stained knife with her.

Noah continued with his torture. He inserted thin needles into one of Bakura's eyes. He cut off the fingers of his left hand, one by one. And he finally took a can of gasoline and began to pour it over Bakura. But there he stopped.

"Now, Bakura, I'm not quite finished yet. First of all, I want you to see dear Seto suffer as well. Second of all, I'd really like our visitor to have a better view."

With this, he picked up the can of chloroform and a dirty rag. And headed towards the door.

"Hello, Tea. Won't you join us?"

END OF CHAPTER 7

A/N: sorry that this chapter was ridiculously bad…writer's block…review anyway?


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu Gi Oh. And, yes, I stole things from Hostel. So sue me. Wait, actually, please don't….

Warnings: Nothing I'd bother about. As far as I'm concerned, my torture scenes are hardly good enough to be classed as gruesome.

Chapter 8

A pair of hazy azure eyes awoke. Tea's vision was fuzzy; she could see nothing but a blurry room. She began to get a little more clarity, but had a pounding headache, as if a sledgehammer was slamming against her brain repeatedly. She shook her head, things got worse. Her throat was dry, and it felt as if something was scratching it from the inside. Her mind was almost blank, but she was vaguely aware of being bound. As she began to get a little more comprehension, she realized her arms and legs were tied with harsh, burning rope to the legs of a chair of some description.

"Huh…" was all she could mumble out. She could not get enough coherent thought going on to realize this was not quite the thing to do.

"Ah, my dear Tea is finally back with us!" exclaimed a high, nasal voice. Noah moved towards Tea, who could now see clearly enough to make everything out properly, and could think clearly enough to realize her position.

"N-Noah…" she choked out.

"Yes, it's me! Did you guess?"

Tea did not bother to attempt to think of a sarcastic comment. She would leave that to Kaiba and Bakura. "Yes…"

"Well, aren't we clever? And I suppose you know all about it then, do you? What I want, why I have come back?"

Tea nodded. "You want Kaiba. Not Yugi. Kaiba."

"That's right! Smart girl, Tea. Always shunned to the side, aren't you? Put down as a girly sidekick with a foolish crush on the pharaoh. Useless compared to Yugi, Joey, and of course my dear brother. Well, now, my dear Tea, you'll get to see him die. My reward to you for being so clever and figuring this out."

"So…you're not going to kill me?"

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that. After all, you have seen an awful lot, now, haven't you? I'd really rather not go to jail. I've been terribly good at getting away with it so far! So maybe I shouldn't let you go…."

"No!" cried Tea in her strangled cough. "Please…I won't tell. Just let me go!"

He shook his head, a sadistic smirk on his face. "I don't think I can do that, Tea. You're in my way. And when people get in my way…people die."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Where the hell is she, Ryou?"

"As if I know!"

"You saw her last!"

"Yugi, calm down! We'll find her!"

Yugi, who looked on the brink of tears, replied with: " Oh my god, please let us find her!"

Ryou sighed. Tea had been unaccounted for about three minutes and already Yugi was going off the deep end.

"What if something's happened to her, Ryou? What if she's been taken too? Killed? What am I going to do if she's been killed? I'll kill myself. I'll kill myself, Ryou!!"

Ryou laid a calming hand on Yugi's shoulder. "Yugi. Just calm down. Let's think about this logically. She was searching the upstairs rooms. We haven't been in all of them yet, have we?"

"But we've shouted everywhere!"

"And if she was in one of the far rooms, she might very well not have heard us. Right? So let's keep calm and go looking. There's no way she would have vanished without any trace."

Yugi looked terrified, but attempted not to show it. "How can you be so brave, Ryou? After everything that's happened? After finding Mokuba?"

Ryou shuddered. "That was horrible….But we can't let the same thing happen to Tea. Or Bakura."

"Or even Kaiba?"

Ryou did not reply.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"Well, I think we should stay together. Splitting up, I should say, has proved to be not the greatest course of action. We'll take a couple of knives from the kitchen and a lamp and Mokuba's baseball bat as weapons and go. OK?"

Yugi still looked completely zoned out, but nodded his head. "OK."

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"Help! Please, someone! HELP ME!" Tea screamed her lungs out, violent tears splattering on her pretty face, which had turned pink, her eyes raw from crying. "Oh, god, please!" she cried once more, her voice strained and broken from screaming.

"Shut. Up! Shut the fuck up!" snapped Noah, glaring at her for the first time.

"Nooo….Please, no!" she screamed.

"If you don't shut the fuck up, you god damn whore, I swear - "

"YUGI! RYOU! Please, come! I'm down here! I'M DOWN HERE!"

"Right." Noah put down his drill and picked up one of his unused scalpels. He strode over to Tea, ripped her jaw open, breaking it, he suspected, and began to work. "If you won't shut up, I'll shut you up, you stupid groupie. And to think, I was going to let you live to see this happen."

He continued, amid the gushes of blood tearing the roof of Tea's mouth open, to work. Her screams were stifled by the fact that she was choking on her own blood. He severed through tendon-like vessels at the bottom, causing more crimson blood to gush out, spattering him further with the red he was already stained with. After a few more clumsy saws with the scalpel, the job was done. He extracted the tongue and threw it carelessly aside.

"There you go. No more screaming for you today, my darling."

Tea was whimpering pitifully, still crying, though it seemed as if there were no more tears that could possibly be left. Her pain had reached its peak, and she began to feel hazy again. She was going to pass out from the pain…she hoped….

"OK. Where were we, Bakura? I must say, the two of you haven't done much in the way of crying out. Oh, that's right, you're gagged…so silly of me to forget. Now shall I continue? I'll take that as a yes, Bakura."

He continued to use his drill through Bakura's right arm, spraying sinewy, fleshy material about the room. Bakura moaned in agony, but was muffled by the gag. He had now begun to feel as if there were no more pain he could go through. Noah stopped periodically to spray Kaiba's eyes, which were, of course, still taped open so he was forced to witness what was happening.

Noah suddenly noticed that his "patient" was no longer conscious. Bakura had evidently finally given in and passed out from the pain. His body could no longer stand what was being done to it.

"Oh, what a damn shame. He's gone. But I haven't killed him yet! What say you, Kaiba, first shall I torture you for a little while or shall I kill him? Decisions, decisions. You know what? I think I'll kill her. Gonna do it anyway, might as well get it out of the way." Noah spoke of the action as if he was deciding whether or not to get some homework out of the way.

He picked up the drill. "Look, I'm so unoriginal." He mumbled. "Already used this. But, this is supposed to be fun."

Without further ado, he turned on the drill and carefully cut through Tea's skull. Her mouth, bloody and torn, was gaping open, to reveal not only her oozing wound but also her pitiful cries of pain.

"Wait! Don't die yet, I have something cool!" Noah protested. He turned around to pick up a bottle labeled "concentrated hydrocyanic acid – highly corrosive". He unscrewed the lid and slowly poured it into the hole that had been created in Tea's head. She died slowly and painfully as her brain ebbed away. Her head fell forwards and her silky brown hair fell in front of her crystal blue eyes for the final time.

END OF CH 8

A/N: Look, I killed Tea! Not that I don't like her, she's cool, but I want her out of the way for the end. I actually made her sort of OK in the fic. In most fics she's a whorebag. But I've always sort of liked her…anyway, sorry if you didn't want her to die, and all. And about Bakura…well, I'm really not at all sorry, because I like torturing him.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh

A/N: I'm not sure if this is the last chapter. I'll have to see where I get to. I'm thinking yes. The sucky thing is this chapter was quite good, but it got deleted by my stupid computer, and so I have to start from scratch. And being the procrastinator I am, I haven't given it a thought in about a month. So I can't remember what I put. Oh well. Never mind.

Chapter 9

"Yugi. I'm scared."

"Shut. Up!"

"Oh...but..."

"No buts. Ryou, for God's sake, let go of my sleeve."

"But I'm scared."

Yugi sighed. Ryou was always scared. And this was no time to be scared. The two of them had at long last discovered the passage that Tea had found, and were cautiously descending the stairs. Ryou had not stopped whispering how scared he was, and Yugi was getting distinctly tired of it.

"Ryou!" he hissed. "If we don't save Tea, I'll never forgive myself. Who knows what's happened to her? Do you seriously want to go back after everything we've seen? You want to just let her die? And what about Bakura? You can hardly fruitlessly attempt to make him fall in love with you if he's dead. Although...technically..." Yugi broke off in bemusement, trying to figure out if you could kill someone who was already dead. He was recalled to his senses by Ryou hitting him surprisingly hard on the arm.

"I never said - "

"Yeah, but you're a useless liar, Ryou. And now we really need to be quiet. I can hear voices."

"But - "

"But what?"

"But I'm scared."

This earned Ryou a remonstratory flick on the forehead, but Yugi was in no mood to be joking really. He really had heard voices up ahead, and who knew what Noah was doing to them.

They turned an unexpected corner, and stumbled over rather unceremoniously. The end of the stairs had been found. They were facing a narrow corridor that frankly looked like something out of a videogame. There were torches alighting the walls on either side, and the walls themselves were a dirty sort of turquoise. Ryou and Yugi glanced at each other without a word. They set off down the corridor.

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Noah ripped the tape as harshly as he could from Kaiba's eyelids, causing him to wince in pain.

"No point in that anymore. He's unconscious." Muttered Noah. "Didn't last very long, did he? Sure that's the kind of guy you want to be with, Kaiba? Someone who passes out at the first available opportunity?"

Kaiba did not answer. His gag had, too, been removed, and he was free to cry out. Kaiba did not know why Noah was allowing him the opportunity to alert Yugi and his friends who were almost certainly at least in the house by this time. But he hardly cared anymore. One of the only two things he had ever cared about whatsoever was already as good as dead. And who knew what had happened to Mokuba. Kaiba spared a thought for his little brother. He felt his heart ache with a sharp stab as he thought of what Noah might have done to him. And it was all his fault. He was so goddamn selfish. That was why this had happened. Innocent (well, sort of innocent) people had been murdered because of him. Kaiba rarely, if ever, blamed himself for anything, but could not help feelings pangs of horrific guilt as he stared at Bakura's lifeless form.

"Have you got anything to say for yourself, Seto, dear brother?" asked Noah in his former sing-song voice. "Any last words? Any final requests?"

Kaiba refused to give him the satisfaction of compliance. He spat at Noah's feet and gave him the most withering glare he could muster under the circumstances.

"Now, I don't think that's quite good enough, Seto." Said Noah remonstratively. "Perhaps another little lesson in why you are here...?"

Noah picked up his hunting knife. He strode over to Bakura and slit his throat where he sat.

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"Hello? Anyone home?" called Marik. He poked his head into the living room. "Uh...hello? Yugi? Ryou?!" Marik began to call more frantically as he realised no one was to be found.

He ran upstairs calling out desperately. "Yugi! Ryou..." He felt a pang of guilt and pain as he thought of Ryou. If he'd been hurt...it was all Marik's fault for arguing with Ryou. Why was he so fucking stupid? He'd only been thinking of his own feelings rather than of trying to protect Ryou. Damn it! They were nowhere to be found. Marik frowned. What could he do? Call someone? He tried Tea's number. No reply. Yugi's. Ryou's. Kaiba's. Bakura's. Nothing.

He slammed his phone into the wall. He had to find them.

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Kaiba felt nothing. He let his head slump forward on to his chest. He knew Noah was approaching him. But he didn't care. It was time for him to go. To join Bakura. To hell with it. Was it selfish for him to want death? When he still had people here that needed him? Oh well. Did he give a fuck? The only person that he had ever needed had just had his throat slit. So why not. Let Noah kill him. Let him end his pain. Because what Kaiba was feeling right about then was just about as much as one person could be expected to endure.

"Seto." Whispered Noah softly. "Don't leave yet. We're...we're the only two left. I don't want you to leave until you understand."

Kaiba was silent. Understand? Understand the murder of Bakura and everyone else? Was Noah insane?

"Seto...I didn't do this for no reason. Haven't you ever wanted revenge? Haven't you ever felt so much hatred towards one person that you'd do anything to get back at them? Can you think of no one?"

Kaiba did not speak.

"Even my father?" Noah said it. Kaiba was not surprised. He did not know how Noah knew, but he was certain that he did. "Do you not think what he did to you was...unforgivable?"

Kaiba remained silent but felt himself listening. As much as he hated the idea, he listened.

"You took my entire life from me. I had to...I had to do the same to you. Seto. I don't know why I need your acceptance. But I do. I always have. And I can't kill you without knowing that you understand."

Kaiba thought about it for a few moments. This was it...the real Noah. No psychosis to hide behind. He could just talk Noah down. He could escape. All he had to do was play on Noah's twisted mentality. But...did he want to?

"Yes." He said finally. "I understand."

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"Yugi..."

"I know. It's almost time. Right?"

Ryou nodded. "Um..." he whispered. "What are we going to do?"

"What do you think? Look, he's moving closer..."

"Yugi! Can we?"

"We have to."

"But..."

"No buts!"

"But aren't you scared? He could kill us?"

"Right. We're doing this. Now."

"Now?"

"Now!"

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"Y-Yugi? Yugi!" Marik had heard something. It sounded like a crash. And a scream. But where had it come from? He looked around frantically, but the source of the noise was nowhere to be found.

"Yugi! Ryou!"

Crash. There it was. The noise. Again. Marik was sure it had come from downstairs. He ran into all the rooms he could find, but to no avail.

A cry. He ran upstairs, searching. And then – success. The third person that day had found Kaiba's secret passageway. He ran down in a frenzy of panic and confusion. What was he about to find?

He ran into the room at the end of the corridor, completely out of breath and feeling sick with the sudden smell of blood. He inhaled sharply and almost retched as he entered the room.

"Wh-oh my god!" he cried, as he surveyed the room. Three people were lying slumped in chairs and one was unconscious on the floor. One was standing over the lifeless body wielding what looked like a table lamp. And the other, a frightened, white haired figure was standing to his left, shivering, with tears running down his face.

"Ryou! You're OK!" cried Marik in relief. He rushed forward to embrace Ryou, who crumpled like a broken china doll in his arms. "Ryou...it's OK...you're ok..."

Yugi looked around with an expression of amused indignation. "I'm ok, too, by the way. Thanks for asking."

Marik grinned. "What the hell happened here?"

"Well, we just stepped out and sort of...hit him with the lamp. That's essentially it. But...but...Tea. She's...you know."

Marik glanced at Tea's limp form. "Yeah. That's horrible. It sucks."

Yugi, as if he had only just realised what had actually happened, burst into tears. He dropped the lamp and fell to the floor.

"Yugi..." said Marik, sitting beside him. "You couldn't have saved her, you know. It was too late. It was just her time, you know. At least it was quick."

Yugi did not look at all comforted. "And that's not all. Bakura's dead, too. That's why Ryou's so...you know."

Marik nodded. He already was trying to figure out how he felt about Bakura's death, but this was not about him. Ryou was still shivering and crying.

Marik stood up. "OK. You two stay there. I assume Kaiba's passed out? Or is he...?"

Yugi was the one to answer, not Ryou. He shook his head. "He's not dead. He just said something weird, like "I see now. Take me to him" and then he slumped forward. That's when we went. Noah was about to get him."

Marik nodded. "I better try and revive him. Not that I think he'll be especially pleased when he comes around."

"Especially," began Yugi with a sinking heart, "when he finds out his brother's been killed."

"Oh god." Replied Marik. "Might it be kinder to just...you know...finish the job for him?"

"Kill him?"

"Yeah."

"That's not going to happen." Snapped a cold voice from across the room. "There's no way I'm going back to flying solo after I've had him."

Bakura had sat up and was talking as if nothing had happened.

Yugi gasped, Marik said nothing, and stared at him in wide eyed shock, and Ryou looked like he was about to faint.

"Bakura! What the frick!"

Bakura shrugged. "What kind of ending would it be if I died? Or had you guys forgotten that I'm technically not alive, and therefore cannot die? Cue groans, I know, but hey. I'm here and I'm fucking fabulous. That is, if you're not planning on killing my boyfriend." He finished dryly.

He was met by nothing but open-mouthed stares. "Well? Wake him up, then, Ishtar!"

Marik stood still for a few seconds before realising that Bakura was talking to him, and rushed over to Kaiba to attempt to shake him awake. Yugi sat still, and Ryou made his way over to Bakura to sit by his side.

"B-Bakura? Are you really ok? Aren't you hurt?"

But Bakura did not listen. All he said was "Marik? How is he?"

And that's when Ryou realised. It did not matter how what he did. Not how he acted, what he said, or the things he did. It did not even matter that they had saved Kaiba. All Bakura could see was him. Kaiba. He had never seen Ryou. It was like he was there...but invisible at the same time. And he never would be seen. Bakura loved Kaiba. That was the truth. Harsh, but there it was. Ryou stood up. It was truly over.

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"Ok. I think he's coming around." Said Marik finally. He had been shaking Kaiba repeatedly for the past ten or so minutes with no reaction. Eventually they had given up and just decided to sit there until he came around of his own accord.

Ryou was sitting sullenly in the corner. Bakura was waiting with anticipation. Yugi was sitting meditatively by Tea's side. Marik was still standing beside Kaiba, who was, indeed, beginning to stir.

He shook his head, full of the dirty, tousled brown hair that made him almost unrecognisable as the impeccable Seto Kaiba. "Wha..." was all he could manage to murmur.

Marik knelt down. "Kaiba? Can you hear me? It's me. Uh...Marik Ishtar."

"Bakura..." was the only response he got.

Bakura stood up, and approached Kaiba. He shoved Marik out of the way, and pulled Kaiba roughly out of his chair. Yugi started, but Bakura shushed him.

"Right, mister. Enough of this." Bakura pulled Kaiba into a kiss, still supporting his lover's weak frame. He pulled back after a few moments to find Kaiba's icy eyes staring back at him, as him he had never been gone.

"Well." Said Bakura. "Thought that ought to wake you up a bit. After all, it's not every day you kiss someone that's meant to be dead."

"Well, actually, genius," replied Kaiba in his usual sarcastic tone, "it _is._"

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The five of them were downstairs. It was the day after the "incident in the basement" as Marik had dubbed it. Yugi, Ryou, and Marik had been allowed to stay the night at Kaiba's house. That morning, they had phoned the Domino City Police Department. After much explaining, and several individual interviews down at the station, they had been allowed a brief reprieve from questioning while forensics finished collecting evidence in the basement. The officer in charge of the case had informed them that Noah was recovering from his knockout blow by Yugi at Domino General Hospital, and that the five of them would be in no way blamed for any of the events that had taken place. Apparently new evidence had come to light connecting Noah with Pegasus' murder. Evidently he hadn't been as clever as he had thought.

Tea's body was cleaned and dressed for her funeral, which was to take place on the following Saturday. Yugi was to read the elegy, and already knew what he was going to say. Kaiba, he knew, was distraught at Mokuba's death, but Bakura was helping him to keep it together.

And as for now, Yugi sat down next to Ryou in Kaiba's living room, having just been released from the station. He was the last to be questioned. Until the trial he would not have to give any more evidence. Kaiba and Bakura were making dinner in the kitchen. Bakura, it turned out, was a somewhat brilliant cook, and was showing Kaiba how to make pasta. Kaiba, needless to say, could barely make toast. Marik was bouncing around the kitchen dancing to Gravity's Rainbow and annoying the hell out of the two of them.

And Ryou was now beside Yugi on the couch, sitting watching MTV2. He looked very tired, but strangely peaceful.

"Ryou?" asked Yugi. "Are you ok? I mean, well, stupid question. What I mean is, how are you holding up?"

Ryou gave a small smile. "It's not me who's lost the person they love, Yugi."

Yugi paused. "Isn't it?"

Ryou hesitated for a second, then sighed. "What should I do, Yugi? I thought, you know, maybe now that we caught Noah and saved everyone, maybe, just maybe, I'd get my happy ending too. But apparently not."

Yugi had seen this coming. "Ryou...you can't make him love you. You just can't. He loves Kaiba. Kaiba makes him happy. I know that's no comfort, believe me, but the sooner you accept it, the sooner you can move on."

"_Come with me, come with me, we'll travel to infinity..."_

"Marik, SHUT UP!" Yugi and Ryou laughed as they heard these voices from the kitchen. But Ryou was still not really in the laughing mood.

"Yugi. I know I have to do it. Move on, I mean. But...where do I start?"

Yugi smiled. "You could start by inviting Marik to the Muse concert."

Ryou's eyes widened. "But...I was going to invite Bakura!"

Yugi looked at him gently, as though he were slightly stupid. "Ryou. What's Bakura's favourite band?"

"Megadeth."

"And what's Marik's?"

Pause.

"...I see your point. OK, I guess there's no harm in giving it a try."

"Arrrgh!" came a cry from the kitchen. "You stupid priest!"

Yugi and Ryou both burst out laughing. "I think Kaiba's set Bakura on fire. I better go make sure they're OK. And, you know, talk to Marik." Ryou finished sheepishly. He left the living room, leaving Yugi to his own thoughts.

What they had been through was horrific in every possible way. Was it possible that anything good had come out of this? Yugi didn't want to believe it, but he thought that the answer was yes. As he heard the laughter coming from the kitchen, and saw Marik holding Ryou's hand as they came back into the room, Yugi felt a strange sense of peace. He hoped that nothing, at least for the moment, disturbed that peace.

And then the doorbell rang.

Yugi sat up."Who's that?" he asked nervously, anticipating more cops.

"Oh." Said Ryou. "I invited Joey, Tristan, and Duke round. I hope that's OK?"

Yugi sighed. So much for peace.

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THE END

A/N: Well, that's it folks. Not the best fic ever, and kind of a rushed ending as it's now 2:24 am, but there it is. At least it's done. Now I can focus on finishing the others and then start the new Yami/Yugi one. Perhaps I can be a bit more diligent about my updating now that I'm slightly less busy. (slightly! I say slightly!) Anyway. Feedback would be nice, but you don't have to.

Oh and by the way, the song Marik was dancing around to is Gravity's Rainbow by Klaxons. Literally because that is the song I was listening to at the time of writing that part.

Oh, and you know what else I realised? I just forgot to include Yami in any way. I just forgot he existed. Not the first fic I've done that in, either. I don't know why...I just forget he's there! Whoopsy!

By everyone!


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